This as well as the preceding and the two that follow were
composed in front of Rydal Mount and during my walks in the
neighbourhood. Nine-tenths of my verses have been murmured out in
the open air: and here let me repeat what I believe has already
appeared in print. One day a stranger having walked round the
garden and grounds of Rydal Mount asked one of the female
servants, who happened to be at the door, permission to see her
master's study. "This," said she, leading him forward, "is my
master's library where he keeps his books, but his study is out of
doors." After a long absence from home it has more than once
happened that some one of my cottage neighbours has said--"Well,
there he is; we are glad to hear him 'booing' about again." Once
more, in excuse for so much egotism, let me say, these notes are
written for my familiar friends, and at their earnest request.
Another time a gentleman whom James had conducted through the
grounds asked him what kind of plants throve best there: after a
little consideration he answered--"Laurels." "That is," said the
stranger, "as it should be; don't you know that the laurel is the
emblem of poetry, and that poets used on public occasions to be
crowned with it?" James stared when the question was first put,
but was doubtless much pleased with the information.

ENOUGH of climbing toil!--Ambition treads
Here, as 'mid busier scenes, ground steep and rough,
Or slippery even to peril! and each step,
As we for most uncertain recompence
Mount toward the empire of the fickle clouds,
Each weary step, dwarfing the world below,
Induces, for its old familiar sights,
Unacceptable feelings of contempt,
With wonder mixed--that Man could e'er be tied,
In anxious bondage, to such nice array
And formal fellowship of petty things!
--Oh! 'tis the 'heart' that magnifies this life,
Making a truth and beauty of her own;
And moss-grown alleys, circumscribing shades,
And gurgling rills, assist her in the work
More efficaciously than realms outspread,
As in a map, before the adventurer's gaze--
Ocean and Earth contending for regard.
The umbrageous woods are left--how far beneath!
But lo! where darkness seems to guard the mouth
Of yon wild cave, whose jagged brows are fringed
With flaccid threads of ivy, in the still
And sultry air, depending motionless.
Yet cool the space within, and not uncheered
(As whoso enters shall ere long perceive)
By stealthy influx of the timid day
Mingling with night, such twilight to compose
As Numa loved; when, in the Egerian grot,
From the sage Nymph appearing at his wish,
He gained whate'er a regal mind might ask,
Or need, of counsel breathed through lips divine.
Long as the heat shall rage, let that dim cave
Protect us, there deciphering as we may
Diluvian records; or the sighs of Earth
Interpreting; or counting for old Time
His minutes, by reiterated drops,
Audible tears, from some invisible source
That deepens upon fancy--more and more
Drawn toward the centre whence those sighs creep forth
To awe the lightness of humanity:
Or, shutting up thyself within thyself,
There let me see thee sink into a mood
Of gentler thought, protracted till thine eye
Be calm as water when the winds are gone,
And no one can tell whither. Dearest Friend!
We two have known such happy hours together
That, were power granted to replace them (fetched
From out the pensive shadows where they lie)
In the first warmth of their original sunshine,
Loth should I be to use it: passing sweet
Are the domains of tender memory!